"Turn to an entry in your journal or diary from a year or more ago. What has changed and what has stayed the same since then?"
Naturally, that brought me to look at this beauty from a little more than a year ago. As far as attitudes go, I'm pretty much in the same place. I relish the idea of growing old versus growing up because it makes my brain hurt in a not quite unpleasant way. And I wholeheartedly agree with Past Brianna that I would much rather grow old. There will be no growing up here.
As far as life goes, this time last year, I was living in Florida. I was packing my bags to get ready to come back to Illinois. I had no job prospects, and no idea what I was going to do with my life past move into my childhood bedroom in my parents' house. I was newly single, I was irrationally bitter, and I knew that I was going to miss the support and friendship I found in my flatmates. I had also just finished off a tiring week of work, and was excited to get to a more normal work schedule for my last week. I was also writing angsty and/or conflicted poetry, some of which turned out well.
This year, I still (unfortunately) have no idea what I'm going to do with my life. But today I'm at home in Illinois temporarily because come Saturday, I will be driving back out to Nebraska where work has taken me. I have a job, I have my own place to live (rent-free), and I have excellent co-workers who I'm looking forward to getting to know even better during the next couple months of 2014. I'm staying in touch with the majority of my flatmates, as well as classmates from college and high school. I'm just finishing up a relaxing week of rejuvenating "at home time" and there's a part of me that's itching to get back to Nebraska. Today I find myself irrationally optimistic when I'm not choked with terror, and making Shrinky Dinks, because that's what a 23 year old does with her free time in her childhood home before she gets back to her "big kid job." Though I can't classify under a specific heading or genre...I'm still writing poetry that echoes way too much of my current life experiences.
My one conflict with my past "journal entry" is that though I agree with it and want to put it into practice, I'm currently in a job that requires me to act a mite bit older than my true age...because I manage college students. And I'm no longer a college student, so I can't buddy-buddy with them. So I find it more difficult to not grow up, or to do justice to my desire to never grow up. I wouldn't say that I think my soul has died and I'm now an adult, but I will say that I can't run around coloring on walls with crayons or rolling around in the snow in front of my Nebraska home. Frustrating, yes. But I'm sure the universe has its reasons for putting me through this. (Oh gosh, that sounded a lot...I don't know, but I'm leaving it because I'm too lazy to find a way to re-phrase.)
Onward to create more Shrinky Dinks!
Happy 2014, let's make this one a great one!
"When you grow up, your heart dies."
